Chemin de fer du Blanc-Argent

Route map at Valençay station

Blanc-Argent
Route
Gauge :	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Legend to Juranville to Gien 220.127 Argent SE to La Guerche-sur-l'Aubois to Bourges 209.184 Clémont 205.883 Brinon-sur-Sauldre 195,593 Pierrefitte-sur-Sauldre 189.394 Souesmes 185.308 Loges to Orléans 178.665 Salbris according to Vierzon 181.756 A71 motorway 187.815 La Ferté-Imbault 189.716 Sauldre (37 m) 190.660 Selles-Saint-Denis 197,348 Loreux 201.044 Villeherviers 205.396 Faubourg-d'Orléans to Blois 207.088 Sauldre (42 m) 207.279 Romorantin-Lanthenay to Villefranche-sur-Cher 210.767 A85 motorway 211.275 Les Quatre-Roues 214.424 Pruniers according to Vierzon 218,573 Gièvres to Tours 219.829 Canal de Berry (25 m) 220.253 Cher (valley bridge) (160 m) 220.748 Cher (valley bridge) (160 m) 219.829 Cher (124 m) 222.092 Chabris 223,364 Fouzon (23 m) 223.794 Fouzon (11 m) 223.870 Nahon (23 m) 227,343 Varennes-sur-Fouzon TI to Châteauroux 234.688 Valençay 240.655 La Gauterie 245.128 Modon (13 m) 240.655 Luçay-le-Mâle 249,050 La Foulquetière Terre-Neuve CFD according to Ligueil 254.671 Écueillé 263.744 Heugnes 268.253 Pellevoisin 271,200 Juscop 273,403 Argy Indre to Tours 280.028 Buzançais to Châteauroux Bonneau-Habilly 284,046 Chaventon 290.903 Vendœuvres 299,435 Subtray Mézières-en-Brenne 307.147 Saint-Michel-Saint-Cyran 313,585 Lingé Douadic 323.079 Azé Port-de-Piles – Argenton-sur-Creuse railway to Châtellerault 327.838 Le Blanc both to Argenton-sur-Creuse

The Chemin de fer du Blanc-Argent is a narrow-gauge railway with a gauge of 1000 mm ( meter gauge ) in central France . It originally connected Le Blanc in the Indre department via Romorantin with Salbris on the railway line to Orléans and continued from there to Argent-sur-Sauldre . Today the route is limited to passenger train traffic in the Luçay-le-Mâle- Romorantin-Salbris section. A museum train runs between Argy and Luçay-le-Mâle .

prehistory

Already under Napoleon III. a connection of the main axes Paris-Orléans-Bordeaux and Orléans - Clermont-Ferrand was considered. The decisive factor in building the railway, however, was not until the Franco-Prussian War , when the Prussian soldiers had advanced quickly to Orléans in 1870. At that time it became apparent that the French railways of the Second Empire were in a difficult position to supply their own troops. Charles de Freycinet , from 1877 Ministre des travaux publics (for example: Minister for Public Works), therefore planned to make the rail network more closely meshed by building 22,000 km of additional routes.

Train the PO in the station Le Blanc , early 20th century

The politicians responsible for Berry , Brenne , Gâtine and Sologne did not agree on the route, however. On April 19, 1878, the proposal of the mayor of Graçay was first accepted, according to which the railway should be led via Vatan and his city to Vierzon . In 1881, changed political conditions led to the establishment of the later built route from Le Blanc via Valençay and Romorantin to Argent .

The Declaration d'utilité publique required for the construction of the railway was published on May 22, 1882. The planning provided for a double-track, standard-lane line, but this project failed due to economic conditions. At the end of 1883, the Chemins de fer de l'État (ETAT) passed the order on to the Compagnie du chemin de fer de Paris à Orléans (PO), which, however, hardly took any steps to build the railway.

In order to avert failure of the project, the Conseils généraux (for example: Départementräte) of the Départements Indre and Cher suggested the construction of a cheaper narrow-gauge railway. The French government, which Freycinet now headed as Prime Minister , approved the plan in 1893. The ETAT in turn awarded the contract to the PO, which formed a new company for the construction and operation of the railway with the company Faugère et Chatelin. The license was granted on June 12, 1896, and the necessary land was acquired in 1898.

History and route

Romorantin train station around 1905, BA train on the shared platform with the regular-gauge PO

Buzançais station with the regular-gauge PO train, on the left the shared platform with the BA, around 1905

Valençay station building in neo -renaissance style

Gièvres station with class X 210 railcars, 1993

Salbris terminus with X 213, 1989

Freight wagons and manual switches parked in Luçay-le-Mâle

Station building of the Terre-Neuve stop and restricted level crossing on the D 13

The construction of the meter-gauge railway began in 1899 and was opened in four stages in 1901/1902. With regard to a possible change of gauge to the standard gauge, the route was laid out generously, in contrast to the usual narrow-gauge railways. The minimum curve radius was 300 m, rails were laid with a weight of 25 kg / m. The work was carried out by the Balavoine companies from Salbris, which used their own locomotives and wagons, and Beauséjour. On December 31, 1901, the Romorantin – Salbris section was opened, then Salbris – Argent on May 15, 1902, and Romorantin – Écueillé the following November 6 . The line from Écueillé to Le Blanc went into operation on November 17, 1902, with a total length of 190.635 km.

Initially, the railway was operated by the PO, then in 1906 the Compagnie du Chemin de Fer du Blanc à Argent was created. When the state railway SNCF was founded in 1938, the BA was taken over by them, but it remained an independent company until 1999. In 2001, Keolis, a subsidiary of SNCF, took over the BA and operates the railway under the name Compagnie du Blanc Argent (CBA) .

The origin of the kilometrage is the Paris long-distance train station Gare d'Austerlitz . It begins in the head station Salbris with 178.655 km in both directions was counted separately from there. The southern end point was the Le Blanc train station, operated jointly with the PO, located above the city on the northern slope of the Creuse valley , on whose forecourt a stretch of the Tramways de l'Indre , which is also meter gauge, began. The BA systems were laid out on the track side northeast of the station to avoid crossing the regular-gauge tracks.

In a north-easterly direction, the route first crossed the Pays aux mille étangs (land of a thousand ponds) and crossed the regular-gauge railway line Châteauroux - Tours in Buzançais . The section from Le Blanc to Buzançais was closed on November 11, 1953.

From this shared station, the track for freight traffic was re-gauged for a few kilometers to Argy. Remnants of the narrow-gauge railway were preserved after the section to Luçay-le-Mâle was finally given up on September 26, 1980 for passenger traffic and on December 31, 1988. Part of this section of the route is a listed building, and the tourist train Train du Bas-Berry has been running between Argy and Luçay-le-Mâle since 2002 . Since October 2009 the Luçay-le-Mâle-Valençay section - previously served by regular trains - has been closed to passenger traffic for technical reasons.

The section of the route, which is still operated by regular passenger trains, begins at the station in the small town of Valençay. The meter-gauge route of the Tramways de l'Indre to Châteauroux , which was closed in 1935, began in the shared station there, which used to have four platforms .

A first transfer station to the SNCF is located northeast in Gièvres on the Vierzon -Tours route . It is particularly important for passengers transferring to and from Romorantin, where a standard gauge track also leads (remainder of the former Villefranche-sur-Cher - Blois route ), but which is only used for freight traffic.

Romorantin is the largest town and its train station is the operational hub of the route. The depot and the former reloading facilities for freight transport are located here.

After Romorantin, the line turns east and reaches the SNCF main line Orléans – Montauban in Salbris . The remainder of the section to Argent-sur-Sauldre, where there was also a connection to the standard gauge, had already been shut down for tourist traffic on May 1, 1939. The freight traffic there was stopped in two stages in 1951 (May 28: Argent– Clémont ) and 1973 (December 15: Clémont – Salbris).

The meter-gauge line from La Guerche-sur-l'Aubois also ended in Argent-sur-Sauldre . It was 98 kilometers long and was shut down on August 1, 1948.

traffic

The timetable, which came into force on June 1, 1913, was the first to show continuous hours counting from midnight to midnight. There were no passenger trains running from Le Blanc to Argent, the longest train runs were from Le Blanc (from 6.00 a.m.) to Salbris (at 12.40 p.m.), from Argent (from 8.20 a.m.) to Buzançais (at 3.12 p.m.) and from Buzançais (from 13.07 p.m.) to Argent (at 9.10 p.m.). There were also trains that only ran on the Argent – ​​Salbris, Salbris – Romorantin (–Valençay), Valençay – Buzançais and Buzançais – Le Blanc sections.

The timetable of June 1, 1926 listed only shorter train runs, the longest of which was a pair of trains Buzançais – Romorantin (6.46–9.18) and back (6.41–21.07). Between Le Blanc and Buzançais there were only two trains per day and direction.

In the timetable from May 20, 1951, the Argent-Salbris section was already history. On the other hand, three connections to Paris-Austerlitz were listed, each with a connection time of 6 to 12 minutes in Salbris. The longest runs were Buzançais – Salbris and back (two pairs of trains, travel times between 2.01 and 2.14 hours) and Romorantin – Le Blanc (6.15 am from 10.26 am, one way only). From this timetable onwards, only railcars were used for travel.

Current situation

X 74501 and X 74505 in Salbris , on the left the freight yard and the reception building (street side) of the standard lane, 2009

Freight traffic on the narrow-gauge track was finally stopped on December 23, 1988, but locomotive 14 brought two more trains with fertilizer to Luçay-le-Mâle on December 30. Only at Argy will a silo continue to be served via the new standard gauge track.

Owner of the track is the RFF , operators since 1999 to Keolis owned Compagnie du Blanc Argent . 400,000 travelers are transported annually.

In 2010, the maximum permissible speed was reduced from 70 km / h to 40 km / h on the entire route for safety reasons. In 2011, the RFF and the Région Center agreed on a program worth 13.6 million euros to modernize the line. The construction work that began in April 2012 has now been completed and the top speed has been 70 km / h again since January 7, 2013.

During the construction work, the trains ran from the operating center Romorantin to Valençay and Salbris, there was no continuous traffic between the end points. Since 2015, the railcars have been running continuously between Valençay and Salbris again.

Important train stations

Disused station Argent-sur-Sauldre - in the middle the loading ramp standard gauge / narrow gauge, behind the loading gauge the reception building

At the time of its longest expansion, the BA had six connection points with the PO's standard gauge network , some of which had extensive track systems. There were shared platforms and freight facilities in the stations of Le Blanc , Buzançais , Gièvres , Romorantin , Salbris and Argent . For 32 years, Valençay station was a shared station with the also meter-gauge Tramways de l'Indre , and between 1907 and 1949 a meter-gauge line from Ligueil of the Compagnie de chemins de fer départementaux (CFD) ended at Écueillé station .

• Argent-sur-Sauldre

Argent-sur-Sauldre was the northern end point of the BA, which shared the station with the regular - gauge line Orléans - Sully-sur-Loire - Bourges of the PO and the meter-gauge line Argent-La Guerche of the Société générale des chemins de fer économiques (SE) . The BA had a small depot with a two-tier wooden locomotive shed on the spacious site. The station had a house platform and three central platforms, of which the two closest to the station building were reserved for the standard gauge, the two to the west parallel to it were reserved for the meter gauge.

The crossing of both gauges north of the Buzançais station was once secured on both sides by safety switches , the station facilities began behind the level crossing

Entrance building of the Écueillé station

• Buzançais

The Buzançais station was a shared station with the PO on their route from Tours to Châteauroux, whose regular-gauge tracks were crossed a total of five times by the narrow-gauge tracks. Coming from the south of Le Blanc, the passenger and freight tracks separated before the first crossing . The passenger station of the BA was between the passenger and freight tracks of the PO, it shared an island platform with their trains in the direction of Tours. A second, shorter central platform and two tracks off the platform edges completed the system.

To the west of the regular -gauge freight tracks, there was a meter-gauge freight track connected on both sides along a freight and reloading hall including a loading ramp .

After the last switch of the passenger station, its track crossed the main freight track of the PO and reunited with the narrow-gauge freight track. West of the regular-gauge mainline track running parallel to that, it then crossed that after a few meters. This crossing was secured on both sides by protective switches with butt tracks .

At the southwestern head of the station there was a small depot with a two-tier locomotive shed , a turntable and a butt track to the coaling plant and the gas station.

• Écueillé

The former joint station with the CFD has been the operating center of the Train du Bas-Berry museum railway since 1989 . A single-track locomotive shed comes from CFD, while the Société d'Animation du Blanc Argent (SABA) , the operator of the museum railway, has built two more - one of them in the historical style. The reception building, which is typical for the small train stations of the BA, is privately owned, and tickets are sold in a specially designed railcar.

Gièvres shared station, 1993

• Gièvres

Gièvres station is still in operation as a shared station with two gauges. The double-track main line of the SNCF on the Tours – Vierzon route lies in a curve, which is why its tracks are very elevated . The narrow-gauge section lies north parallel to the regular-gauge tracks, the trains in the direction of Valençay share a central platform with the main trains in the direction of Vierzon. A second island platform between the meter gauge tracks serves passengers in the direction of Romorantin. There is also a third continuous track.

To the west of the station, the narrow-gauge railway crosses the standard gauge tracks under a bridge.

Two gauges in Romorantin station (on the right the standard gauge track coming from Villefranche , which once led to the house platform ) and a sidecar from the XR 701–703 series, 1993

• Le Blanc

After Le Blanc, once a railway junction, there are no longer any trains: the section from Argenton-sur-Creuse of the standard gauge line Port-de-Piles- Le Blanc-Argenton-sur-Creuse, which was last operated only for freight traffic, was closed in 1994. In the same year, the remaining freight traffic on the regular - gauge Saint-Benoît –Le Blanc line also ended. Operation of the meter-gauge line (also to Argenton-sur-Creuse) of the Tramways de l'Indre (TI), which began on the station forecourt, was stopped in the mid-1930s.

The BA mainline track coming from the north ended in a 90 ° curve from the north into the station area on a hill above the city. The BA's facilities were laid north of the PO's standard gauge tracks.

Romorantin station as seen from the bridge over the Sauldre: on the left the track to Salbris, on the right a pull-out track , 2009

• Romorantin

The Romorantin train station in the twin town of Romorantin-Lanthenay , created in 1961 through unification, is the operating center of the BA and houses the administration of the Compagnie du Blanc Argent .

A regular-gauge railway line of the PO from Villefranche-sur-Cher reached it in 1872. The extension to Blois was built by the state, and the management of the section, which was opened in 1883 to Vineuil , was transferred to the PO. While the eight-kilometer route from Villefranche still exists for goods traffic, the track to Blois was closed in 1954.

The BA facilities were located to the west parallel to those of the PO (or from 1938 SNCF), with the standard gauge initially there was a common central platform. There are now meter-gauge tracks on both sides of this platform and also on the house platform . At the northern end of the station, just before the bridge over the Sauldre , is the BA's depot with the main workshop . The locomotive shed there had four tracks, they could be reached via a saw drive from the north. Another track led into the workshop, the two tracks in the elongated repair hall were connected by small turntables.

The vehicles are currently being parked south of the old shed, where a new car hall has been built. There are four stub tracks next to it, u. a. with the gas station for the railcars.

Salbris station - on the left the standard gauge line, on the right the narrow-gauge station

• Salbris

In Salbris, the narrow-gauge station is located to the east of the SNCF long-distance train station (Orléans – Montauban line). It was laid out as a terminus where trains coming from Le Blanc and Argent ended or stopped .

In the last few years it has been completely renewed, with the exception of one stump track on the platform, all other tracks have been dismantled. Before that, there were two platform tracks that framed a central platform and ended at a turntable with an adjacent butt track.

At least two crossings with regular-gauge side tracks led to the freight yard, which was located between the two passenger stations.

Valençay station - until 1935 also the terminus of the Tramways de l'Indre - with railcar X 213, left the locomotive shed of the BA, 1993

• Valençay

As a shared station with the route of the Tramways de l'Indre (TI) to Châteauroux beginning there , the station had relatively extensive track systems. The tracks and systems were partly used jointly, but there were separate platforms and their own locomotive sheds (BA one with overnight room, TI two-room). There were a total of four platform tracks on the house and three central platforms, with the one furthest away from the representative reception building being reserved for the TI.

A freight and free loading track connected on both sides ran in front of the building across the station forecourt, the route of which can still be seen. In 2014, three tracks and two central platforms were still in use at Valençay station. The locomotive shed of the BA was still passable, and there was an additional stub track.

Infrastructure

Chabris train station with waiting hall and goods shed

• Reception building and goods shed

Turntable and boxcar in the Écueillé station

Water tower and BA engine shed (with built-on overnight room for railway workers) in Valençay

Where the BA encountered PO stations, their station buildings were mostly also used. The BA's own buildings were largely the result of a uniform construction plan, but with different facade ornaments. Two-storey station buildings with a gable roof (about 11 m long, 9 m wide and 10 m high up to the ridge), an attached goods shed and a separate toilet block were typical. At more important train stations (Chabris, Vendœuvres ) a waiting hall was added on the other side.

The buildings of stops such as Subtray, Faubourg d'Orléans and Terre-Neuve were single-story. They stood with the narrow side - and partly a waiting hall attached to it at right angles - to the platform.

An impressive building is the reception building of the station Valençay in the neo-renaissance style , which was listed in 1993. The Duke of Talleyrand-Périgord , owner of the Valençay Castle and at the time a member of the General Council , wanted a building appropriate to his seat, which he co-financed for this reason.

• Turntables

The train stations Écueillé, Luçay-le-Mâle , Valençay and Chabris as well as the stop Les Quatre Roues had turntables with the help of which freight wagons could be turned and shifted by hand. In Valençay, for example, seven parallel tracks were connected to one another by a track running at right angles to them, with a turntable at each of the interfaces.

The diameter of the turntables was chosen to correspond to the length of a two-axle wagon, but they were also used for turning steam locomotives.

• Water cranes

The steam locomotives were mostly supplied with water in the joint stations with the PO, where the BA's water cranes could be connected to their pipeline network. At intermediate stations, water cranes were only installed in two cases ( Mézières-en-Brenne and Valençay), as these required the construction of a water tower . The tower and crane are still in place in Valençay.

vehicles

Modernized X 241 and X 242 in the Romorantin depot, in the background the former engine shed, on the right the new railcar hall

In 2003 five new diesel multiple units (X 74501 to 74505) were put into service, in 2010 two older multiple units of the X 240 series (X 241 and 242) from 1983/84 were modernized and returned to the line.

Steam locomotives

Originally, three-axle, 15-ton tank locomotives were used on the route . In 1901 the Ateliers de construction du Nord de la France (ANF) delivered the machines with the company numbers 21 to 28, in 1902 Buffaud & Robatel the numbers 29 to 36. They were 7070 mm (over buffers) long and 2150 mm wide, their maximum speed was at 50 km / h. Depending on the section of the route, they could pull 90 to 150 t. The distance between the first and last coupling axles was selected at 2100 mm so that the locomotives could be turned on the turntables . They were able to carry 1000 kg of coal and 800 liters of water with them. After the railway was taken over by the state railway SNCF , they received Kylchap suction systems. In order to reduce the risk of forest fires, the chimneys were provided with large containers for the fly ash. Some of the machines received additional compressed air tanks for the braking system, which were installed above the boiler .

Machines 41 were used (1937 as No. 103 from Tramways de l'Ain , before that Chemins de fer du Center ), 42 and 43 (1940 as No. 3504 and 3505 from SE Allier ) and 63 (1947 as No. 41 from PO-Corrèze ). No. 41, built by Corpet-Louvet in 1913, was a mallet locomotive with a C'C wheel arrangement and a one-off of this type for the BA. It was (without buffer) 10.895 m long, 2.45 m wide and weighed 42 t when empty. Due to the high axle load , it turned out to be unsuitable for the BA route and was rarely used. In 1946 it was passed on to the PO Corrèze and finally came to the Réseau Breton in 1953 .

Diesel locomotives

Diesel locomotive 14, parked in Romorantin, 2009

In 1950 the first small locomotive with a combustion engine came to the BA, where it was tested for suitability for the route until 1952. The "Locotracteur" 201 was created in 1947 in Les Sables-d'Olonne using the chassis of a C-coupled steam locomotive and was initially used in the Tramways de la Vendée network. As early as 1944, the CFD in Saint-Jean-d'Angély had built the small locomotive No. 50 on the chassis of a 1'C steam locomotive, which the BA acquired second-hand from CFD Lozère in November 1951 .

• No. 201: 6.69 m long, 18 t heavy, Willème diesel engine with 132 kW output
• No. 50: 6.40 m long, 16 t heavy, Berliet diesel engine with 110 kW output

In 1952, the BA exchanged the two machines for the three-axle diesel locomotives 11 and 12, which were built in the same way. The No. 11, which was converted by the CFD in 1940/41 in their Neuillé-Pont-Pierre workshop , ran from 1946 in their Indre-et-Loire networks and Yonne . On February 20, 1952, it was bought by the BA, where it was used in freight traffic until it was discontinued. In 1989 it was passed on to the Nice – Digne-les-Bains railway , where it was still in shunting service in Puget-Théniers in 2011 . The reconstruction of sister machine 12, which began in 1941, lasted until 1945 as a result of the Second World War . It came to the BA on February 8, 1952 and was sold in 1989 to the Chemin de Fer de la Baie de Somme . Both locomotives were 6.29 m long and had an empty weight of 16.53 t, the Willème diesel engine had an output of 132 kW.

In 1953, based on plans by the Romorantin depot, two more small locomotives were built in the SNCF Périgueux workshop using the chassis of steam locomotives 25 and 28, and were given the numbers 13 and 14. The 8.45 m long, 2.15 m wide and 17.54 t heavy C-couplers were fitted with a 147 kW diesel engine from Willème. Locomotive 14 was shut down in February 2001, locomotive 13 was still in service in 2010.

Railcar

Railcar ZZ 13 from De Dion-Bouton , taken over from Tramway du Loiret , newly bodied by Heuliez

Motorcar X 205 type OC2 from De Dion-Bouton in Romorantin, 1976

Unconverted railcar X 224 on the Train du Bas-Berry in Argy

Class X 220 railcars (motorless ends) before the conversion in Romorantin, 1976

Converted railcars (motorless ends) in the colors brown and cream of the Sologne : X 213 (formerly X 223) and X 214 (formerly X 221), 1989

After Georges Tartary had successfully tested a two-axle rail bus on the route in 1921 , the BA bought an SC4 internal combustion engine from Renault - Scémia in 1924 . However, this did not meet the expectations placed in him.

1936 came from the set in the previous year Compagnie des tramways du Loiret (CTL) three De Dion-Bouton railcars type JM1 for BA, 1924 assembled device vehicles carrying the ZZ numbers 11-13. They could be turned with a rotating device under the floor of the car and were re-bodyworked by the BA (ZZ 11) and Heuliez . 34 passengers found space in the 5.6 to 6.6 t heavy, 29 to 33 kW powered railcars. Two JA railcars (also built by De Dion-Bouton) were acquired from the Tramways de l'Indre (TI), which were closed in 1937 , but they only served as spare parts donors for the JM1.

In 1934, De Dion-Bouton, in collaboration with the Compagnie générale de construction et d'entretien du matériel de chemin de fer ( car bodies ), delivered the A 21-24 type MZ rail buses to the Tramways de l'Ain , which extended one and better sprung version of the type ML. This line was shut down in 1937, the 8-ton railcars came to Romorantin in 1938 and were given the operating numbers ZZ 21-24. Its engine had an output of 51 kW and there were 26 seats. In order to avoid the laborious turning of the one-way vehicles, they were mostly used rear-to-rear-coupled. The cars with the numbers 22-24 were parked in 1954 and then scrapped, the number 21 went to the Chemin de fer du PO-Corrèze .

A noticeable improvement was the acquisition of four type A 80 D billiard rail buses, which were previously used by the CFD (Réseau de l'Yonne). Their bidirectional design simplified the operational sequence, as the first bogie railcars (one motor and one running bogie each ) of the BA they ran more smoothly. The vehicles with the numbers X 241-244, built in Tours in 1937 and brought to the BA in 1952, had a 59 kW diesel engine from Willème, they were 11.36 m long and 8 t in weight over buffers. In addition to 32 seats, the 2.40 m wide car body had a luggage compartment with a maximum payload of 1500 kg. In 1967 they were given to PO Corrèze in exchange for Verney cars.

In 1967, six used railcars (X 201-206) of the type OC2 from De Dion-Bouton came to the BA, which were ordered in 1939 for the Réseau Breton , but were not built until 1946/47. With a length of 19.12 m and a width of 2.78 m, they almost corresponded to standard gauge vehicles. The output of the Willème engine was 132 kW, the curb weight was 17.5 t; 80 passengers (51 seats and 29 standing places) and 2000 kg of luggage could be carried. The X 202 was parked in 1982, followed by the X 204 and X 206 in 1985. The latter serve as spare parts dispensers for the X 205, which is operationally part of the inventory of the Train du Bas-Berry .

In 1950, SCF Verney built four-axle diesel railcars of the X 210 series, of which the X 211 and X 212 vehicles came from PO Corrèze to the Blanc Argent in 1967. The single-engine vehicles have a continuous output of 132 kW, they are 80 km / h fast, 18.53 m long and 23.5 t in weight. The railcars, which were modernized in 1983/1984, can be coupled to the X 240 series; they have been preserved at the Train du Bas-Berry and the Chemin de Fer de la Baie de Somme .

The motor coaches X 213 (formerly X 223) and X 214 (formerly X 221) from SCF Verney originally belonged to the X 220 series, after their modernization (including a modified front design) in 1983/1984 they were assigned to the X 210 series. Four vehicles (X 221 to X 224) were delivered to the Blanc-Argent in 1950–1951. Together with the A 80 D Billiards, which they acquired at the same time, they finally replaced the steam-hauled passenger trains. Verney supplied the XR 702 and 703 sidecars to match the railcars , the XR 701 was added in 1968 by PO Corrèze. The X 213 and X 214 railcars have been preserved at the Chemin de Fer de la Baie de Somme, the X 224 (built in 1951, not converted) runs at the Train du Bas-Berry. The X 222 car was scrapped in the 1970s after an accident in 1966.

In December 1983 and January 1984, two single-engine diesel railcars of the X 240 series with the numbers X 241 and X 242 were procured, which were largely similar to the X 5001 tested by the BA in 1981. The continuous output of the vehicles built by Socofer (formerly Établissements Billard ) with six-cylinder diesel engines from Poyaud is 177 kW and their top speed is 85 km / h. The 18.28 m long and 25 t heavy cars have 52 seats and can be coupled with the X 210 series. Initially painted in the colors of the Sologne brown and cream, the railcars, baptized Romorantin-Lanthenay (X 241) and Valençay (X 242), were later given the colors white and isabella blue of the TER Center . In 2010 they were modernized; Since then, however, one-man operation is no longer possible, which is why they are only used to a limited extent.

Five diesel multiple units of the X 74500 series (numbers X 74501 to X 74506) built at CFD 2002 were put into service at the end of 2003. The MAN engines have an output of 300 kW, the maximum speed is 85 km / h, but is limited to 70 km / h. The hydrodynamic gearbox is of the Voith T 211 RZE SP type. With a length of 26.24 m, the articulated trolleys weigh 40.5 t, they offer 60 seats and 15 folding seats.

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  Modernized X 212 from SCF Verney in Romorantin, 2009

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  Railcar X 242 on the northern pull-out track in Romorantin, 2010

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  Diesel multiple unit X 74504 exiting Salbris station

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  Locomotive 14 and sidecar XR 701 in Romorantin, 1998

Passenger cars

AByf 91–95 series cars

Byf 61–67 series cars

Initially, the BA had two-axle compartment wagons with no passage and side doors, which ANF ​​Blanc-Misseron had supplied. There were eight wagons of the 1st (numbers A 1 to A 8), ten of the 1st and 2nd (AB 81 to AB 90) and 38 of the 2nd  wagon class (B 21 to B 58). They were 6.80 m long (over buffers) and 2.25 m wide, the distance between the axes was 2.60 m. The wooden car body was slightly drawn in at the bottom .

In the 1st class there were upholstered seats, in the 2nd only benches made of wooden slats. There were glazed peepholes in the walls between the compartments. It was heated with hot water bottles that were available on the platforms, and the lighting was done with kerosene lamps . Electric lighting was later installed, for which a generator on one axle of the van provided the electricity.

In 1940 the BA received 30 bogie cars with open platforms from SE Allier. Six of these cars (ABf 57–61) were mixed class (1st and 2nd class), 13 cars (ABDf 111–123) were mixed class with a luggage compartment and 11 cars (Bf 211–212, 219–224, 351–353) only led the 2nd class. In April of the following year, BA 15 returned the car to SE Allier, the rest of the cars received electrical lighting corresponding to the two-axle vehicles and were renumbered (AByf 91–95, ABDf 121–123 and Byf 61–67). After the abandonment of the locomotive-hauled passenger service in 1952, they were shut down, and none of them survived.

Foreign vehicles at the BA

The BA was repeatedly used for test drives due to the favorable alignment, which allowed relatively high speeds for a narrow-gauge railway, in view of a later change of gauge being considered.

In 1920 the engineer Georges Tartary , administrator of the Tramways des Deux Sèvres , bought trucks of the United States Army from the Gièvres military depot in order to convert them into rail buses . On November 26, 1921, he tested such a vehicle on the BA route between Romorantin and Valençay, where it ran at the astonishing speed of 44 km / h.

In December 1938, a type A 250 D billiard railcar was on the route. The vehicle built for the Abidjan-Niger Railway reached speeds of up to 93 km / h. In June 1957, a three-part multiple unit type 5110, which Renault had built for the railway from Blida to Djelfa , even reached 100 km / h .

The X 5001 diesel multiple unit was tested between Salbris and Luçay-le-Mâle between October 13 and 29, 1981. The four-axle vehicle was intended for the Chemins de fer de la Corse (CFC) and was then transported on the road to Bastia by low-loader .

Private sidings

The BA had thirteen private sidings , most of which were approved, built and closed again between 1940 and 1975:

• La Folie in Buzançais at km 279.142 (1947–1949)
• Villemont in Argy ( silo ; built 1957; regular gauge since 1990)
• Coopérative des Agriculteurs de l'Indre in Écueillé at km 254.837 (Agrargenossenschaft Indre; from 1942)
• Laiterie de Luçay-le-Mâle ( Luçay-le-Mâle Dairy ; 1948–1975)
• Couade in La Gauterie at km 240,305 (1947–1961)
• Coopérative des Agriculteurs de l'Indre in Valençay at km 235.210 (from 1942)
• Four à chaux M. Berthet in Varennes-sur-Fouzon at km 229.308 ( lime kiln ; 1953–1958)
• Bisson in Les Quatre-Roues (1944-1958)
• Camp de Michenon between La Ferté-Imbault and Salbris (military camp; 1940–1953)
• Couade in Les Loges at km 185.130 (1949–1973)
• for the delivery of marl for soil improvement between Pierrefitte and L'Étang-des-Bordes at km 198.531 (1902–1914)
• for wood collection in L'Étang-des-Bordes
• SFTMP in Brinon-sur-Sauldre ( plastics plant ; 1968–1973)

Train du Bas-Berry

Train of the Train du Bas-Berry museum railway in Heugnes

Écueillé station , the operating center of the Train du Bas-Berry

The Société pour l'Animation du Blanc Argent (SABA) has been running museum traffic on the listed section from Argy to Luçay-le-Mâle under the name Train du Bas-Berry since 1995 . Used steam hauled trains with two-axle tank locomotive 11 and three diesel railcars . Other trucks, including the steam engine 24 located in refurbishing (four couplers) and two Deutz - diesel locomotives (formerly Euskirchener circular orbits ) complement the fleet. The X 205 (built in 1947), X 211 (built in 1951) and X 224 (built in 1951) of the former Blanc-Argent railcars are available. The main point of operation is the Écueillé train station , and the service runs mainly on Sundays from May to September.

→ Main article : Train du Bas-Berry

Remarks

1. ↑ The Déclaration d′utilité publique (declaration of public benefit) was the prerequisite for land expropriations
2. ↑ The same source gives different data on p. 114
3. ↑ The company numbers corresponded to those of the steam locomotives used for the conversion
4. ↑ The average speed on the route at that time was 18 km / h

literature

• Geoffrey Nickson, Eric Martin: Le chemin de fer du Blanc à Argent . 2nd Edition. Editions du Cabri, Breil-sur-Roya 1989, ISBN 2-903310-78-5 .
• Vincent Lepais, Michel Jacobs, Jean-Louis Audigué: Le chemin de fer du Blanc à Argent . Éditions LR Presse, Auray 2011, ISBN 978-2-903651-71-8 .
• Henri Domengie: Les Petits trains de jadis, le Sud-Ouest , Éditions du Cabri

Web links

Commons : Chemin de fer du Blanc-Argent  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• La ligne du Blanc-Argent with photos, including steam locomotives in Valençay (possibly the TI, without a container for the fly ash) and an MZ railcar in Romorantin
• News de Trains , photo of the steam locomotive 24 with a container for the fly ash
• Quelques photos du Blanc-Argent , numerous photos from the 1950s and 1960s, including diesel locomotive 12, OC2 railcars in Buzançais and Depot Romorantin

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Vincent Lepais, Michel Jacobs, Jean-Louis Audigué: Le chemin de fer du Blanc à Argent . Éditions LR Presse, Auray 2011, ISBN 978-2-903651-71-8 , p. 12 f .
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Vincent Lepais, Michel Jacobs, Jean-Louis Audigué: Le chemin de fer du Blanc à Argent , p. 20 f.
3. ↑ Vincent Lepais, Michel Jacobs, Jean-Louis Audigué: Le chemin de fer du Blanc à Argent , p. 64.
4. ↑ Vincent Lepais, Michel Jacobs, Jean-Louis Audigué: Le chemin de fer du Blanc à Argent , p. 15.
5. ↑ Alexandre Kusnetzoff (Ed.): La France des lignes oubliées . La vie du rail, Paris 2013, ISBN 978-2-918758-66-2 , pp. 110 .
6. ↑ Le patrimoine en devenir des Tramways de l'Indre at journals.openedition.org, accessed on June 26, 2019
7. ^ ^{A b c} Geoffrey Nickson, Eric Martin: Le chemin de fer du Blanc à Argent . 2nd Edition. Editions du Cabri, Breil-sur-Roya 1989, ISBN 2-903310-78-5 , p. 23 ff .
8. ↑ Geoffrey Nickson, Eric Martin: Le chemin de fer du Blanc à Argent , pp. 129 ff.
9. ↑ Laissez-vous transporter ( Memento of the original from November 18, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at compagnieduba.fr, accessed on November 17, 2016 
10. ↑ Timetable during construction work on ter-sncf.com (PDF; 211 kB)
11. ^ SNCF meter gauge trains from Salbris to Valençay are running again . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International . No. 3 , 2013, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 133 .
12. ↑ ^{a b} Vincent Lepais, Michel Jacobs, Jean-Louis Audigué: Le chemin de fer du Blanc à Argent ff, S. 31st
13. ↑ Atlas des lignes de chemins de fer disparues from Archéologie ferroviaire, accessed on July 20, 2019
14. ^ Geoffrey Nickson, Eric Martin: Le chemin de fer du Blanc à Argent , p. 15.
15. ↑ Vincent Lepais, Michel Jacobs, Jean-Louis Audigué: Le chemin de fer du Blanc à Argent , p. 74 f.
16. ↑ Track plan (notice at the station building)
17. ↑ Vincent Lepais, Michel Jacobs, Jean-Louis Audigué: Le chemin de fer du Blanc à Argent , p. 36 ff.
18. ↑ Vincent Lepais, Michel Jacobs, Jean-Louis Audigué: Le chemin de fer du Blanc à Argent , p. 238 f.
19. ↑ Vincent Lepais, Michel Jacobs, Jean-Louis Audigué: Le chemin de fer du Blanc à Argent , p. 49 ff.
20. ↑ Vincent Lepais, Michel Jacobs, Jean-Louis Audigué: Le chemin de fer du Blanc à Argent , p. 248.
21. ↑ ^{a b} Vincent Lepais, Michel Jacobs, Jean-Louis Audigué: Le chemin de fer du Blanc à Argent , p. 104 ff.
22. ↑ Vincent Lepais, Michel Jacobs, Jean-Louis Audigué: Le chemin de fer du Blanc à Argent , p. 209.
23. ↑ ^{a b} Vincent Lepais, Michel Jacobs, Jean-Louis Audigué: Le chemin de fer du Blanc à Argent , p. 114 ff.
24. ↑ ^{a b} Vincent Lepais, Michel Jacobs, Jean-Louis Audigué: Le chemin de fer du Blanc à Argent ff, S. 124th
25. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Vincent Lepais, Michel Jacobs, Jean-Louis Audigué: Le chemin de fer du Blanc à Argent , p. 129 ff.
26. ^ ^{A b c} Geoffrey Nickson, Eric Martin: Le chemin de fer du Blanc à Argent , p. 118.
27. ↑ Vincent Lepais, Michel Jacobs, Jean-Louis Audigué: Le chemin de fer du Blanc à Argent , p. 217 ff.
28. ↑ ^{a b} Vincent Lepais, Michel Jacobs, Jean-Louis Audigué: Le chemin de fer du Blanc à Argent ff, S. 154th
29. ^ Geoffrey Nickson, Eric Martin: Le chemin de fer du Blanc à Argent , p. 70.
30. ^ Geoffrey Nickson, Eric Martin: Le chemin de fer du Blanc à Argent , p. 20.
31. ^ Homepage of the Train du Bas-Berry , accessed on June 30, 2013